Rogue Character- Anima Beyond Fantasy- Building a Ki Character

A few weeks ago I took an overview look at the RPG Anima Beyond Fantasy. This week we’re going to take a slightly deeper look into the system by running through the creation of a character who makes some use of Ki; the body’s physical manifestation of power. The obvious character class for someone to use advanced Ki would be a Technician employing Techniques or a Tao and enhancing their martial arts. We’re going to go with a Tao to give her some mundane fighting skills and use Ki to enhance her to inhuman levels of power. And we’re going to take some inspiration from the Flash.

Introducing Serria, the Fastest Woman Alive.

Characteristics

We’re using Method 5 which allows for 55 points to spend on the eight characteristics.

• Agility- 10 (costs 11 pts as going from 9 to 10 costs 2 instead of 1)
  • +15 Bonus
  • Dodge will be her main defense and her movement speed relies on agility
• Constitution- 8
  • +10 Bonus
  • We always need Fatigue points (based on Con) and good health
• Dexterity- 8
  • Attack is based on Dex so this can’t suffer
• Strength- 6
  • +5 Bonus
  • This affects damage, so we need some bonus
• Intelligence- 5
  • +0 Bonus
  • She’s not dumb but she isn’t a scholar
• Perception-6
  • +5 Bonus
  • She’ll need to boost her notice skill and having at least a minimal bonus is important
• Power- 5
  • +0 Bonus
  • As she doesn’t use magic, nothing special here
• Willpower- 6
  • +5 Bonus
  • Everyone needs a little bonus Composure and Withstand Pain

Creation Points

Advantages

• Martial Knowledge 120- 3
  • Grants 120 extra MK at character creation
  • We’re going to be diving into Ki Abilities and some techniques so need a good chunk
  • Tao offers a reasonable 30 per level to play with later but we need a big pool to get started
• Attribute: Agility +1- 1
  • Allows her to go over the base line human stat cap of 10
  • Her Agility bonus increases to +20
  • Important to note, she doesn’t get any benefit from having an 11 unless we take Inhumanity (which we’ll do later)
• Ki Recovery 1/minute- 1
  • Increases Ki recovery from 1/10min in unified Ki modified rules to 1/minute
    • Core game had Ki points earned and stored by Characteristic. Later book added the rule to combine Ki pool into a single Unified pool, majorly simplifying the system. Since you were earning 1 pt per hour in each of six characteristics before, they also simplified this to 1 every 10 minutes.
  • Since she has to spend Ki on a few abilities she’ll pick up and for her few techniques she’ll want to be able to recover her pool in a reasonable timeframe
• Quick Reflexes- 1
  • +25 Initative
  • She’s the fastest woman alive. She needs to act first whenever possible

Disadvantages

We’ve spent 6 out of 3 points on Advantages so we’ll need to take some Disadvantages to make up those points

• Code of Conduct- 1
  • She grew up and trained in a monastery. There are rules she has to adhere too
• Deep Sleeper- 1
  • This confers a horrible penalty when you get woken up that lasts for 10 rounds (basically an entire combat)
  • She is attempting to achieve Zen, which feels appropriate for being hard to wake up
• Unfortunate- 1
  • The effect of this one is mostly up to the GM but it has a lot of fun potential

Development Points

Combat

Tao allows 60% of our 600 DP to be spent in Combat. Attack/Defense can not exceed 50% of DP spent so we have 60 to spread around to other things. This will all be used for martial arts and we’ll even need to spend less than the full 300 on Attack/Defense.

• Attack 100 DP
  • Final Attack- 80
    • 50 (DP) + 10 (Dex Bonus) + 20 (Dumah)
• Dodge 180 DP
  • Final Defense- Dodge 140/Block 80
    • Dodge 120 = 90 (DP) + 20 (Agility Bonus) + 10 (Lama)
      • Grants access to Advanced Soo Bahkt and Advanced Capoeira
    • Dodge 140 = 90 (DP) + 20 (Agility Bonus) + 10 (Lama) + 10 (A. Capoeira) + 10 (A. Soo Bahkt)
    • Block has zero DP spent in it but can be used at the higher defense -60, making it 80
• Martial Arts- 70 DP
  • Advanced Lama (5+5 DP, this is her primary Martial Art, so it costs only 5 for each level)
    • Grants her a bonus defense with no penalty at advanced level
    • Advanced requires Defense 130 and Style 40
  • Advanced Capoeira (10+10 DP)
    • Allows her to make Area Attacks with martial arts as if she had a Large weapon (hitting five targets)
      • Note, Area Attacks confer a -50 to the Attack
    • Requires Defense 120 and Dance 40
  • Advanced Soo Bahtk (10 + 10 DP)
    • Removes the penalties from attacking and defending her Flanks
    • Requires Defense 120 and Notice 90
  • Advanced Martial Art Dumah (20)
    • Allows her to attack with Cut or Thrust damage type (in addition to martial arts standard Impact)
    • Increases damage of attacks by +10 and reduces targets armor by 2
    • Requires Advanced Capoeira and Presence Extrusion
• Martial Knowledge- 10 DP

Secondary Skills

My GM typically plays with a modified skill list. Instead of 45 Secondary Skills, its pared down 13 (plus any skill that is a prerequisite for something). Everything else, plus anything you can imagine, becomes Tertiary and uses a separate point pool. We won’t go into those for this character, but you’ll notice a slightly different listing of skills than you’d find in the book.

• Secondary Skill Rules
  • Untrained Penalty- Any skill you have not invested DP into has a penalty of -30 applied to it. Spending DP enough to get a +5 negates this penalty
  • Natural Bonus- Each character gets two Natural Bonus skills that add double their characteristic bonus each level. One Physical and one Mental.
  • Innate Skills- Each character gets five skills to get +10 training in (which allows you to ignore the -30 untrained penalty)
• Acrobatics 25
  • 5 (10 DP/2) + 20 (Agi Bonus)
• Athleticism 30
  • 0 (0 DP/2) + 20 (Agi Bonus) + 10 (Innate Bonus)
• Persuasion -30
  • 0 (0 DP/2) + o (Int Bonus) – 30 (untrained)
• Style 40
  • 25 (50 DP/2) + 0 (Pow Bonus) + 10 (Innate Bonus) + 5 (Tao Bonus)
  • Prerequisite for Lama martial art
• Notice 90
  • 70 (140 DP/2) + 10 (Natural Bonus doubles Perception Bonus) + 10 (Innate Bonus)
  • Prerequisite for Soo Bahtk martial art
• Empathy 20
  • 5 (10 DP/2) + 5 (Per Bonus) + 10 (Innate Bonus)
• Magical Appraisal -30
  • 0 (0 DP/3) + o (Int Bonus) – 30 (untrained)
• Medicine -30
  • 0 (0 DP/3) + o (Int Bonus) – 30 (untrained)
• Occult -30
  • 0 (0 DP/3) + o (Int Bonus) – 30 (untrained)
• Composure 10
  • 5 (10 DP/2) + 5 (Will Bonus) – 30 (untrained)
• Withstand Pain 10
  • 5 (10 DP/2) + 5 (Will Bonus)
• Sleight of Hand -10
  • 0 (0 DP/2) + 20 (Agi Bonus) – 30 (untrained)
• Stealth 25
  • 5 (10 DP/2) + 20 (Agi Bonus)
• Dance 50
  • 0 (0 DP/2) + 40 (Natural Bonus doubles Agi Bonus) + 10 (Innate Bonus)
  • Prerequisite for Capoeira martial art
• Crafting -20
  • 0 (0 DP/2) + 10 (Dex Bonus) – 30 (untrained)

Martial Knowledge

We have an impressive 200 MK to Spend

• Tao grants 30
• Martial Knowledge CP at lvl 3 grants 120
• DP spent 10
• Martial Arts 40
  • Advanced Soo Bahtk 10
  • Advanced Capoeira 10
  • Advanced Lama 10
  • Dumah 10

Ki Abilities

The first thing to spend MK on are several Ki Abilities. Many of these are essential to being able to do anything else.

• Use of Ki – 40
  • This is the basic ability you must get to do anything with Ki
• Use of Necessary Energy – 10
  • Allows you to spend more fatigue points at a time and eat less and push your body longer before getting tired
  • Also a prerequisite for many things
• Elimination of Necessities – 10
  • Reduces food and rest requirements to 1/10 a normal person
  • Helps counter the Deep Sleeper Disadvantage
  • Good RP as the character will still spend a lot of time meditating
• Presence Extrusion – 10
  • Allows character to damage supernatural creatures with a much higher Presence
  • Prerequisite for Dumah
• Inhumanity – 30
  • Allows her to make use of her Agility 11
  • Can make use of skill rolls that exceed 280
• Ki Control – 30
  • Allows her to accumulate Ki, which is a prerequisite for spending Ki on anything
  • The rules are very obtuse about this ability. It is not listed as a prerequisite for many Ki Abilities yet you can not use any Ki Ability that spends Ki without it. This is something many overlook as its wording appears to specifically reference Ki Techniques as its sole purpose

Techniques

Techniques are special abilities Ki users can develop. To use them, you need to spend Ki you accumulate from your attributes. Serria is not deep diving into techniques, like a Technician would, so her accumulation is quite low. Therefore, the techniques she’s developed are quite minor but useful for her theme.

• Fastest Woman Alive – 25
  • Cost- Agi 3, Con 3, Dex 3
  • Maintained (3)
  • Initiative Augmentation +25
    • Going first is her schtick
  • Additional Action +1
    • Allows her to move at her full speed (130ft) every round and attack with no penalty
  • Armor Augmentation +2
    • She is not going to ever wear much armor so a bonus is helpful
  • With her accumulation it will take her three rounds to accrue the points naturally, or she can spend two fatigue at the start of combat to trigger it right away
• Rapid Fire Blows – 20
  • Cost- Agi 3, Con 2, Dex 2
  • Limited Additional Attack +1
    • Her attack is low so gaining a second, penalty free attack is very handy
  • Automatic Transport 10m
    • The first time she uses this in a combat she can surprise her target and appear behind it, giving them a big defense penalty
  • She can trigger this every other round with her accumulation or spend one fatigue to trigger it
• Super-Sonic Punch – 25
  • Cost- Str 2, Pow 2, Will 2
  • Impact 12
    • This has the potential to send a target flying through the air, which is hilarious
  • Can be triggered every other round or by spending one fatigue

Leveling Up

By level four, she’ll be able to max out her speed via Inhumanity with 13 Agility. If she wants to go even faster, she’ll need to pick up Zen which is a hefty 50 MK cost. She’ll have acquired 120 more MK through leveling and from more martial arts. This can be spent on more techniques; you can make one to give her phasing powers, and one to create mirror images of herself. She can also pick up an elemental lighting attack to round out the Flash flavor.

For martial arts, she’ll want to pick up Sambo, Shotokan and Kempo. By level four she can get all of them up to Advanced allowing her two attacks per round at only a -10 penalty, ability to make her large area attacks at -25 (instead of -50) and depending on Ki Abilities picked up, her paltry level 1 damage of 35 could get boosted as high as 65.

At that point you’ll want to decide if it’s worth staying Tao or switching to Technician. To pick up any Advanced Martial Arts or get any basic ones to to Supreme level requires 200 attack/defense which she can’t reach until level six at the earliest. For those two levels she could improve her accumulation some and start picking up tier two techniques which could open up a lot of interesting doors.